Hasn't Forgotten - Sgt. Gary Mathis

November 23, 1989

Sgt. Gary Mathis, an administration specialist at headquarters, Tactical Air Command Logistics at Langley Air Force Base, believes more people should become involved in the effort to account for prisoners of war and those missing in action in Southeast Asia.

Mathis, who handles a lot of the paperwork, distribution and filing for the Logistic Plans Directorate, has also been involved with the National League of POW/MIA Families, headquartered in Washington, D.C.

"I helped produce a 30-second television public service spot announcement for the league and I've attended the last two annual meetings in Washington," he says.

Mathis says more than 2,300 Americans are unaccounted for in Southeast Asia.

"I believe that there are still some live Americans held prisoner," he says. "There are many unresolved live-sighting reports, discrepancy cases of known American POWs still unaccounted for, and a history of the communist practice to withhold prisoners, including French prisoners, from its war in Vietnam.

"Some people think that the Vietnamese government gave captive Americans the choice of being tried for war crimes, which probably would have meant a sentence of death, or accepting Vietnamese citizenship and names. If a deal were made later for their return, or any escaped, they could be labeled deserters or defectors and the Vietnamese government wouldn't lose face by saying they didn't hold POWs."

Joining the Air Force in 1985, Mathis plans in January to finish studies for a degree in business management at the University of South Florida in Tampa, and is taking ROTC classes. Upon graduation, he will become an Air Force lieutenant.

He attends Ivy Memorial Baptist Church, where he is a member of the singles college and career Sunday school class and a teacher for seventh and eighth-grade boys Royal Ambassadors.